Lando Norris considers his past season the best he has had so far in Formula 1, underlining key improvements he has made compared to the previous years.
Norris finished 6th in the final drivers’ standings, just 1 point shy of fourth place. Despite having one of the toughest start to a season, McLaren made its way up through the field and fought at the front against the top teams.
Both Norris and Oscar Piastri delivered incredible results in qualifying, sprints, and races, achieving poles and podiums.
In an interview where he was asked to share his thoughts on the 2023 campaign, the Briton stated: “I think it’s been my best year.
“I think it’s been our best year as a team. I guess a lot of it is just for the obvious reasons – the success that we’ve been able to have from after the start that we’ve had.”
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella also praised his driver, saying that he has improved in many aspects such as tire management, which has helped the team fight at the front of the field.
Adding to Stella’s comments, Norris admitted that he feels he still has room for improvement.
“I’m still not super comfortable every weekend on [thinking], ‘the car is going to do this weekend and it does that’, half the time it doesn’t,” he added.
“So then I’m sort of like, ‘Ok, now I need to drive it a bit more like this’ and all of these things.”
Despite that, he also said that he has improved his ability to deliver more consistent results in 2023.
“So, I think I’ve always had some good races every now and then, but when I look at it as a season, on ‘out of all of these races’, a lot more consistently I was delivering on Sunday.
“No matter the conditions, no matter if it was hot or cold or if the car was really quick or struggled a bit more, or if the set-up was where I wanted it or where it wasn’t, if I started at the front or the back – I could always kind of make the most of whatever situation I was in.
“And I think that’s the thing I’ve improved on this year. [It] was being able to adapt even more to all of these different scenarios and different conditions that challenge you.”